Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

m ov ed in to fo urth ahead of A nd ersso n much t o th e crowd delight b u t th e ga p between Roger and Gerrit was such that it could not be made up in the remaining distance. Roger was now tied with Gerrit on points but Wolsink, by virtue of his assumed better finish would take the overall victory based on last moto placing. Roger pressed on looking fo r a mistake; what he got would be best called a gift. Halfway into the next to last lap Aberg, with an unassailable lead, found himself astride a bike with an engine that wouldn't run and a sinking feeling in his stomach. This put Weil into the lead, a good distance ahead of Wolsink, an d mo ved DeC o st er up to third and the overall victory. Andersson was fo u rth followe d b y Maisch and Lackey with Tony DiStefa no p utting in a good ride fo r seven th. J im Po m er oy , sufferi ng sus pens ion p roblems, placed eigh th ahead of Ake Jonsson an d Rich Eiersted t, Pier re Karsma kers , als o the vic t im of a suspension problem , dropped fro m a moto high of fourth to 11 th o The Trans-AMA ap pears to be head ed fo r its best season ever. T he fo rei gn co ntingent, strong at 17 riders, co uld really p rove in ter est in g o nce Heikki returns t o action and if th e se ve n oth er foreigners, who we re pr e-en t ered for th e beginning of the series, show up. The strong pl aci ngs of Pomeroy and Lackey as well as some of o ur other to p performers co uld p rove to be th e aces in th e deck fo r a series that has been d omin at ed in th e past by foreign ri ders . lr:l ...... .... ~ .c o .... u o 250cc Support class Gerrit Wolsink had th e overall in the bag until Aberg broke. A ope er the pits for hurried adjustmen ts or perman en t spectating. Bengt Aberg lost the spark in his engine early followed quickly by Jim Weinert whose bike "just stopped running." Marty Tripes (C-A), Hans Maisch (Mai) and Claudio Pesce (Kaw) pitted, with Tripes and Pesce returning. Jim Ellis called it a day near the halfway point with a sour engine. With the top two spots sewn u p barring any u nfo rseen d iffi cul ties the attention foc us ed o n the battle for th ird between Bo uve n and Karsm a ker s. Pie rre had closed o n Ram on at the hal fway mark with a b ike th a t had lost its rear brake .o n t he second lap . Wo lsin k an d Lackey pl us Scottish Bultaco rid er Vic Allen a nd Hakkan Andersson were also closing on the battle ahead. Karsm a kers got by two laps later as Bouven, troubled with mechanical ills, mad e an u nsched uled pit stop. Wolsink then passed Lackey but was then re-passed o nly to put in a charge t hat ca rried him into th ird arou nd both Lackey and Karsmake rs. Andersso n then bumped Lackey to sixth and the final placings were set. Weil in a tremendous charge finished 13th and Gary J ones, bowing to carburetion and handling problems which also plagued Ellis and Tripes, could climb no higher than 19th. In the time before the second moto the pits became a flourish of activity with Karsmakers receiving a new brake rod, a weld job on his frame; Tim lIart had his base gasket replaced as well as a ben t shifter; Aberg got a new ign it io n , Team Maico ride rs Maisch and Weil re-jetted their bikes wh ile Puch rider Harry Everts was fitted with a new front brake. J im Weinert sat tight as the Kawasaki transporter had broken down away from th e track and th e spares o n ha nd were no t sufficient to repair hi s bike; scratch o ne rider. Adolf wen. 36 and getting younger every day, led all the riders at the start of the second rnoto but was closely shadowed by DeCoster who was out for a sweep of both m o to s, Aberg, Ka rsmakers, Wolsink, Allen, Ellis, An dersson, DiStefano and Everts were in a pack behind with Po m e ro y 13th and Lackey right behind. DeCoster's good position didn't last long though as he had to lay it down to avoid a fallen rider, stalling his bike in the process and dropping to 10th. The costly mishap put Wolsink into a finn hold of the overall victory at that point. A few laps later DeCoster, in eighth. again took evasive action from a fallen rider but lost only previous time and not posi tion. Aberg began to close th e gap on Weil by lap six and fo ur laps later took over the lead. T he crowd loudly cheered DeCoster as h e picked his lin es ca re fully making up a fe w yards here and there on his way to sixth, th ree spots shy o f Wolsink. By lap 12 Aberg had o pened up a good lead and was on h is way to winning. Weil was a co mfortable second ahead of Wolsink with Andersson fou rth and feeling the pressure of DeCoster. Hans Mais ch, Vic Allen, Brad Lackey and Jim Po m er oy were all in contention for sixth . At the two lap signal DeCoster Co ns ist ency by Husky rid er Kent Ho werton p ai d off for the Texas na t ive with a n overall victory in the 250cc . S up p or t class eve nt at Unadilla. Howerton, by virtue of his win a nd second p lacing in the t w o 20 m in u t e m o t os easily out pointed Bultaco mo unted John Savitski (2-5) and Gary Semics (5-4) for top honors. Ho nda rider and 125cc National Champion Marty Smith (9 -1) squeezed in to fo u rth with Bultaco's Ron Pomeroy (9-3) taking the fifth overall spot. John Savitski (B ul) led the riders ar ound for the .first p art of the first lap only to drop five places after a sp ill. Ho wer t on led as the riders crested th e steep hill in view of the pits a nd was never head ed from t ha t point o n . Gary Sern ics (H us) held second through the fifth lap b ut Savits ki , Barry Higgins (Mai) an d Frank S tac y (CZ) go t by before th e checkered flag in a duel th a t las te d h alf th e race. Semics hel d fifth ahead o f . Te rry Clark (Hus) and Ro n Po meroy . ' Ho nda m oun t ed Marty Smith blasted his way to th e lead in the se co nd moto leavi ng al l t he racing to the rest of the fiel d. Ken t Howerton, in fourth on the firs t la p, charged through the pack to take over second spot halfway th rough. Howerton later said that he al most crashed twice in his charge an d that, on ce safely in second and wi th the o verall vic to ry secure, slowed hi s p ace. Howerton 's casualties on his way to second included Ron Po meroy and John Savitski who dropped to third an d fourth respectively. Gary Sernics maintained a steady fifth throughout the race as did Fran k Stacy and Bo b . Grossi in sixth and seventh. Barry Higgins , after a third place in the first mo to, acquired mechanical difficulties and drop ped out early. Maico m o u n t ed Bob Plum p u t in the ride of the d ay with a charge that carried the Utah rider fro m dead last on the opening lap to 12th at t he finish. • Results 500 I nterna t ion al Class: 1. Ro ger D eCos t er (1 -3) Suz; 2. Gerrlt Wols ln k (3 -2 ) Su z ; 3. Ha kan Andersson (5-4) Yam: 4 . Jim Pomeroy ( 2 · 8) Su i; S. Brad La ck ey (6 -6) Hus: 6. Ad ol f Well (13·1) Mal ; 7 . Pierre t

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